Most British travel writers head south for a destination that is hot exotic dangerous or all three. Harry Pearson chose to head in the opposite direction for a country which is damp safe & of legendary banality: Belgium. But can any nation whose most famous monument is a statue of a small boy urinating really be that dull? Pearson lived there for several months burying himself in the local culture. He drank many of the 800 different beers the Belgians produce; ate local delicacies such as kip kap (jellied pig cheeks) & a mighty tonnage of chicory & chips. In one restaurant the house speciality was Hare in the style of grandmother. I didnt order it. I quite like hare but had no wish to see one wearing zip-up boots & a blue beret. A TALL MAN IN A LOW LAND commemorates strange events such as The Festival of Shrimps at Oostduinkerke & laments the passing of the Underpant Museum in Brussels. No reader will go away from A TALL MAN IN A LOW LAND without being able to name at least ten famous Belgians. Mixing evocative description & low-grade buffoonery Harry Pearson paints a portrait of Belgium that is more rounded than a Smurf after a night on the mussels.